Friday night in the spotlight: Mustache returns to Mattoon at the Arena

Local guitar rockers Mustache return to the stage tonight at the Arena Bar & Grill (formerly Villa Nova) in Mattoon. The show starts at 9 p.m. There is no cover.

Mustache performs for the first time in Mattoon in a year, and they are also returning from a summer break. Bassist Corey Neidigh said the band used the time to enjoy their families, but music wasn’t out of the picture entirely.

“We focused all of our time and energy into spending time with our respective families enjoying the summer and writing, in my humble opinion, one hell of an album,” Neidigh said.

The band begins the recording process next weekend, with production and engineering by X-Krush and Sound Source Music’s Jon Clarkson.

Neidigh said three of the new songs will be in rotation during their shows this fall, but “the 5 tracks we haven’t played publicly will stay hidden until the album release party.” The band is shooting for a November/December date for the album to drop. The band does have some new cover tunes added to the set that fans may be unfamiliar with.

How will it sound? “The sound of the new additions to Mustache’s catalog is definitely hard to describe,” Neidigh said. “Isaiah (Edwards), Tommy (Gunn), and Mike (Gingerich) all have written songs that will be on it and they each have a unique sound. We’ve joked that it will be hard to decide what order to put them in.”

The Arena Bar & Grill is located at 516 Piatte Ave. in Mattoon. (Map). Mustache bumper stickers will be free all night.